Skepticism

EVENTS

Why I am an atheist – Beanpuff

I am an atheist, mainly because of the overwhelming evidence, but everybody says that so here’s the other reason: I’m happier without God. I hate the idea of my only purpose being to serve an all powerful being who I can’t communicate with. If it weren’t for that fact, I might not be writing this. In fact, I might be writing hate mail instead. But after a while I gradually realized that I don’t have to get my morality or purpose from god. I had always believed being fully aware that there was no supporting evidence, so I decided to stop believing altogether.

Hmmm. Isn’t this just the Argument from Desirability the other way round? I hate the idea of Hell, but if I actually believed it existed, I’d be doing everything I could to stay out of it, not deciding to convince myself it didn’t.

Worst for me was that it became quite obvious that the morality I was being taught came from duds claiming it came from the invisible sky fairy who nobody ever sees – kinda like the parental argument from ‘because I said so’.

This might be a little off topic, but I have a friend who’s going through a series of surgeries for Marfan’s syndrome. His wife is keeping all his friends updated through facebook. This morning I got a big dose of praise for prayer since he is doing well. Never mind that all the medical personel went through years of training and humanity undertook years of medical research to achieve this happy outcome. That invisible sky daddy gets the credit. If my friend didn’t do well, no problem for big daddy. His ways are mysterious and it is all for the the best.

makes it clear that the main argument the writer accepted was that of evidence (lack thereof in relation to any particular deity seemed to me to be pretty clearly implied).

I interpreted what followed not as argument from undesirability but as a critique of the abrogation of moral responsibility implicit in the Western religious tradition. In other words there is no evidence for deities, and the unsupported belief in deities is morally deficient.

I had always believed being fully aware that there was no supporting evidence , so I decided to stop believing altogether.

(my emphasis added) – So the writer had previously accepted that there was no evidence for their beliefs, but it was the act of discarding the moral arguments of religion that actually provided the impetus for shedding those beliefs.

Of course if the fear of hell were the only thing keeping Christians (or other religions) in their faith, I think that the arguments against religion would be far simpler – in fact it seems to me that the feeling of moral superiority in the religious is far more potent in keeping the faithful in the fold, than the fear of hellfire.

I had always believed being fully aware that there was no supporting evidence

This is the part I don’t get. I realize it’s a common position among believers, at least rhetorically. But I can’t seem to think that way, and I can’t understand how anyone else could, either. Can you please help me understand this?

But I can’t seem to think that way, and I can’t understand how anyone else could, either. Can you please help me understand this?

I can’t think that way either and would also love it if someone could help me understand. Are these “believers” using a different meaning of “believe” or are their brains wired very differently than mine so that they can just “choose” to believe something regardless of whether they actually think it is true?